Musical instrument



Oct. 10, 1950 H. HORNE I MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Filed May 9. 1946 IN V ENTOR. HAL HORNE ATTORNEYS Patented Oct. 10, 195 0 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFlCE MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Hal Horne, New York, N. Y.

Application May 9, 1946, Serial No. 668,384

1 Claim. 1

My invention relates to a new and improved sound-producing orsound-modifying instrument of the type disclosed in U. S. Patent No.2,274,897, dated March 3, 1942.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a sound-producingorsound-modifying instrument which has improved tone and resonancecharacteristics. When the user hums into the mouth of an instrument ofthis type, a modified sound is produced.

Another object of my invention is to provide a sound-producing orsound-modifying instrument which has a hollow body which comprises twoouter shells, and an internal diaphragm located in said hollow body,said internal diaphragm being preferably a multiple diaphragm. Oneorboth of said shells may be resonant, and said diaphragm is resilient andresonant.

Another object of my invention is to provide an instrument of this typewhich can be easily manufactured and assembled at low cost.

Other objects of my invention are stated in the annexed description anddrawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment thereof.

Fig. 1 is a front vertical elevation of the instrument, taken at itsfront mouth opening.

Fig. 2 is an internal view on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1. This is an inneror bottom plan view of the upper shell and of the bottom diaphragmmember.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4. is a bottom plan view of the bottom shell of the body.

Fig. 5 is an end elevation of the assembled device.

In this embodiment, the hollow body or outer casing of the devicecomprises two identical shells I and 2.

As shown in Fig. 2, each shell has a front mouth or inlet 3 and a rearoutlet 4. Between said inlet 3 and said outlet 4, each shell has aplanar mating surface 5, at which it abuts the other shell. Therespective shells I and 2 abut and are joined to each other in anysuitable manner at said planar mating surfaces 5. The shells I and 2 canbe made of plastic or any other suitable material, and they can bejoined in any suitable manner. If made of .plastic, said shells I and 2can be cemented or adhesively connected to each other at their Iplanarmating surfaces 5. One or both of the shells I and 2 may be resilientand resonant; or both shells I and 2 may be rigid and non-resonant.

Each said shell I and 2 is of general arched 2 formation, being archedboth longitudinally and transversely, and each said shell is providedwith a central arched part .6, which may be of greater curvature thanthe remainder of the respective shell. This difference in curvature, ifany, may be very slight. Each said central arched part 5 is defined atits base by a reinforcing rib.

In this embodiment, I provide a multiple diaphragm which comprises twoidentical respective diaphragm members. These diaphragm members areidentified by the reference numerals l and 8. The diaphragm member I hasa neck-part Ia which is of semi-elliptical cross section, in atransverse plane which is perpendicular to the longitudinal plane of thedevice. This longitupdinal plane is identified by the line 9-'@ in Fig.3. This transverse plane is identified by the section line 2.2 ofFig. 1. This neck-part Ia is arched, only in said transverse plane.Inwardly of its neck-portion la, the main body lb of each diaphragm isarched both longitudinally and transversely, so .as to provide acup-shaped body .Ib, whose longitudinal and transverse surface elementsare substantially semi-elliptical.

Each said diaphragm member I and 8 has a planar mating surface at whichit abuts the other diaphragm :section. The outer edge of each diaphragmmember is defined by the line I! in Fig. 2. The inner contour line ofthe respective planar mating surface is defined by the broken line H! inFig. 2. The respective diaphragm members I and 8 abut each other attheir mating surfaces II-I2. The ends of the neck-portions of thesediaphragm sections fit snugly in a gasket or ring R which is made ofresilient and compressible rubber or other suitable resilient andcompressible material. This ring R has an elliptical cross-section. Theends of the neck-portions of the respective diaphragm members I and 8are connected to the internal wall of said ring Ft, by cementing or by atight frictional fit'or in any other suitable manner. The diaphragmmembers I and 8 are made of any suitable metal or alloy or otherresilient and resonant material. The mating surfaces of the diaphragmmembers I and 8 are fixed to each other at spaced points. as byspot-welding at the points or small areas S. The two diaphragm members Iand 8 can thus be connected to each other and then assembled with ringR. as a sub-unit.

Inwardly of their neck-portions, the diaphragm members I and 8 are alsoconnected to slotted suporting members I6 which are made of rubber orother suitable material, which is preferably compressible and resilient.These members I6 are longitudinally slotted, and the planar mating edgesof the diaphragm sections fit snugly in the slots of said members I6,which are connected to the diaphragm members I and 8 by cementing or bya tight frictional fit or in any other suitable manner.

Each shell I and 2 is provided with two seat portions II, each of whichis provided with a notch or recess for receiving one-half of therespective supporting member I6.

Hence, when the two outer shells I and 2 are fixed to each other and tothe members I6, the supporting members I6 can be fixed in their seatedpositions, and the diaphragm sections are thus held against shiftingrelative to the outer shells I and 2. The entire diaphragm, whichcomprises the members I and 8, is thus supported internally of theshells I and 2 by these supporting members I6 and the ring R.

The diaphragm members are free to vibrate relative to each other,inwardly of the inner spot-welded areas S. The resiliency of thediaphragm members biases them normally to abut each other at theirmating surfaces III2, inwardly of the areas S. Hence said diaphragmmembers normally enclose an internal chamber of the body, said internalchamber having a neck which registers with the inlet neck of the body.

When a sound wave enters said internal chamber through its inlet neck,the diaphragm members vibrate inwardly of the inner areas S, thusseparating their mating edges intermittently, inwardly of the innerareas S.

The sound waves thus pass rearwardly out of the hollow body, through theoutlet 4.

The sound waves are thus impressed upon the air column between the innerfaces of the shells I and 2 and the outer faces of the diaphragmmembers.

The drawings are to scale and reference is made thereto for additionalfeatures of the invention. This construction makes it possible to usetwo rigid and non-resonant shells I and 2, or to have one or both ofsaid shells resilient and resonant.

The gasket R may be slightly compressed between the shells I and 2, whensaid shells are fixed to each other.

I have described a preferred embodiment of my invention, but numerouschanges and omissions can be made without departing from its scope.

I claim:

A musical instrument which comprises a hollow body, said body comprisingtwo sections, said sections being fixed to each other at theiredge-portions, said sections being shaped to provide said body with afront inlet mouth and a rear outlet, a diaphragm located within saidbody, said diaphragm comprising two diaphragm members, said membersbeing shaped to provide a diaphragm chamber which is normally closedsave at a front inlet throat thereof, at least one of said diaphragmmembers being resilient and resonant, said diaphragm members being fixedto each other at their edge-portions adjacent said front inlet throatand being separable from each other at separable edge-portions which arelocated rearwardly of said front inlet throat, said front inlet throatbeing alined with said inlet mouth, said diaphragm members beingconnected to said hollow body by connecting means which are spacedforwardly of said separable edge-portions, said diaphragm members beingspaced from the inner wall of said hollow body rearwardly of said inletthroat, the free end portion of said inlet throat being located in agasket which is made of compressible material, said gasket being locatedbetween said sections, and said connecting means comprising supportingmembers which are located rearwardly of said inlet throat, saidsupporting members being seated in respective recessed portions of saidsections.

HAL HORNE.

REFERENCES CITED UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Home Mar. 3, 1942Number

